GOP Undercard debate - let it be the last one

Here's my impression of the last two hours:

George Pataki:

:

Mike Huckabee:

Rick Santorum:

Lindsey Graham:

Quick thoughts on tonight's GOP debate

I don't expect to see a lot of fireworks at tonight's GOP debate. Donald Trump may be tempted to take on his latest surging rival - Ted Cruz - but with two polls showing an updraft for Trump currently, he may not want to risk an attack any more robust than what he's gone with in previous debates.

However the same may not hold true for Ted Cruz.  He may have learned to take a page from Trump and could be equating feistiness with improving poll numbers.  The fight alone might bring him into prominence, and he may decide to provoke a confrontation with Trump instead of the media this time.  In fact with time running low, he may not have a choice.  If he goads Trump into a tit-for-tat war, all bets are off.  It will become a wild card situation.

Where does that leave others in the debate?  Many have already been left in the dust - they just don't know it yet. Bush, Kasich will be marginalized completely unless they step up at this debate.  Bush has shown he can't, and Kasich has shown he can't do it the right way.  

Fiorina has paled over the last two months and I don't see how she gets her mojo back.  She doesn't need to hit a home run, but she's getting closer to needing one.  She needs a really solid performance here or she also could become an afterthought.

Two contenders I think may still have a chance are Rubio, who can play on his polling head-to-head versus Clinton, and Ben Carson, who having faded, also needs a solid performance, particularly on foreign affairs and showing some fortitude and hunger to win.

That's just some quick thoughts.  The debates will be an interesting watch. I'd remind candidates that anything they say can and will be used by Democrats come the general election, so don't get too much blood on your hands.

A simple way to fight domestic terror

The latest news about an Egyptian man arrested for receiving $9000 from ISIS and claiming that he was just trying to scam ISIS out of money is a teachable moment to paraphrase the abstainer-in-chief.

Why not have the NSA or Homeland Security set up a bunch of fake domestic terrorists who have grand ideas and require cash from ISIS to carry out their attacks.  If it works, they get money from ISIS, and possible ways to trace terror donations.  In addition they take away funding from possible other radicalized domestic threats.  In the end, if ISIS finds it is sending money with no return time and again, they'll get wise and stop sending money.

If Chechen girls can trick ISIS, then why not the NSA?

Just a thought.  And who knows, maybe they are already doing that.  But if they are, maybe they should think about ramping it up.

Welcome to 2008, Blogger.

Google has finally allowed Blogger to join 2008 by creating a "featured post" widget.  You may have noticed that I've added one to the right hand side of my blog.  Unfortunately, it still allows only one as far as I can tell and as such remains bounds behind WordPress.  At least it's still not leaps and bounds, just bounds.

As far as welcome to 2008 goes, I keep reading that blogging has gone the way of the dodo, having been surpassed by micro-blogging, tweeting, Instagram, Vine and such.  So I'm outdated blogging here.  But it's hard to fit the principles of Supply and Demand, or Unintended Consequences for example, into a Vine video.  So as far as reaching millennials goes, I guess for conservative bloggers like me, it's a lost cause.

But for the rest of you, I've succumbed to the Google beast and added the featured post widget, and will continue blogging along for the foreseeable future, whatever that future might bring.

Sunday Verse

And he said, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

~Job 1:21

Saturday Learning Series - Short Bio Aristotle

A short bio of Aristotle.